Keeling and Clayton Mustang Funny Car by jct - FINISHED - 1/24 - used to be Lew Arrington's Brutus Funny car

[CDW]

On 1/24/2019 at 10:15 AM, jct said:

THX Denis...shoot I remember when the AMT 3in1 kits cost a buck...probably dating myself there  

Do either of you remember this old custom rod? When it came out, they sold for $2 if I remember correctly. Later on, they boxed this and the Tognotti T together as a 2-in-1 kit.

At one time, I had numerous copies of this kit in my stash, but when they started going for over $100 each in the Ebay glory days, I sold off all but this one copy. Sometimes I regret selling off some of those old kits like this one, but I did get very tidy sums for them.

[jct]

We were all millionaires at one time and had no clue...for me it was the comic book collection (nerdy I know)...cars I never saved built um as fast as I could get them

[popeye the sailor]

I was the same way.......I did enjoy those types of cars though.  they had one in 1/16 scale......I believe that Revell put it out.  I built the Bel air and the Nomad.  had one favorite comic......Magnus the robot fighter  

[lmagna]

I had a pretty large box full of read once Marvel and DC comics when I left home in my teens. I don't know about the DC comics but many of the Marvels were #1 on in sets of several years. They included Fantastic Four, Xmen, Spiderman, Hulk, anyone remember Sub Mariner? The original Sgt. Fury and Nick Fury when he was white, and others

 

My parents dumped the whole box at some point and I probably lost $100s of thousands of dollars if I had them now. Oh well I would have never been smart enough to think that any of my old stuff would become valuable so they would probably been gone long before anyway.   

[jct]

5 hours ago, lmagna said:

I had a pretty large box full of read once Marvel and DC comics when I left home in my teens. I don't know about the DC comics but many of the Marvels were #1 on in sets of several years. They included Fantastic Four, Xmen, Spiderman, Hulk, anyone remember Sub Mariner? The original Sgt. Fury and Nick Fury when he was white, and others

 

My parents dumped the whole box at some point and I probably lost $100s of thousands of dollars if I had them now. Oh well I would have never been smart enough to think that any of my old stuff would become valuable so they would probably been gone long before anyway.   

Ditto

[jct]

Finally got the decal film...but no joy, they seem to have deteriorated beyond the point of no return, they continue to breakup or curl and not adhere if they release from the paper at all...pretty disappointing

I've attached a few photos of the incomplete build just so you can see how the corrected stance looks...thanks to all that have followed along, was fun...decal issues aside

 

[mtaylor]

The stance is more realistic.  It's shame that you didn't scan the decal sheet to print on new decal sheet.   Are there any aftermarket decals even if just the generic "sponsor" type?

[jct]

I've been searching...this particular sheet was aftermarket from Slixx and is no longer available...it seems they are closing up shop and are no longer in production...I've only used the grill and tail sections of the sheet...if I can save the rest I may be able to find the those parts...Anyone have any experience/recommendations with water slide decal paper for laser printers

[CDW]

I have some funny car decals you can have, but they are not specifically for a Ford Mustang funny car. 

I have an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of white decal paper you can have as well if you would rather do your own. Just find the color images you want in the scale you want, save them to a flash drive, then take the decal paper with flash drive to Kinkos or Office Depot and they can laser copy them for you on your decal paper. The only thing you need to do yourself is give them a clear coat after they are printed and before you put them in water. I have done this many times with my ink jet printer. 

Edited January 29, 2019 by CDW

[jct]

1 minute ago, CDW said:

I have some funny car decals you can have, but they are not specifically for a Ford Mustang funny car. 

CDW...This is why I love this website...Thanks much for the offer...I'm toying with the idea of converting it it to Connie Kalitta bounty Hunter...those decals are still available

[popeye the sailor]

I do ink jet as well....never tried it on a laser printer.   a major drawback with it though,  is that they don't print white.  I cheat by using white decal paper.       this also helps with the transparency issue the program has.   using white paper,  I change the background to the color on the model and them import the image...it's how I did the A.G. hull decals.  if you run into problems,  let me know.  I'd be willing to take a stab at it   

 

the model looks super!   you did a great job adjusting the ride height  

[jct]

4 minutes ago, popeye the sailor said:

 

 

the model looks super!   you did a great job adjusting the ride height  

THX Denis

[jct]

Problem solved...this will become the Trojan Horse Mustang and my Vega will be converted to the Green Elephant...ordered new decals from Slixx, I just have to repaint everything

[jct]

1 hour ago, CDW said:

I have some funny car decals you can have, but they are not specifically for a Ford Mustang funny car. 

I have an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of white decal paper you can have as well if you would rather do your own. Just find the color images you want in the scale you want, save them to a flash drive, then take the decal paper with flash drive to Kinkos or Office Depot and they can laser copy them for you on your decal paper. The only thing you need to do yourself is give them a clear coat after they are printed and before you put them in water. I have done this many times with my ink jet printer. 

Thanks loads...didn't see this till I posted my order from Slixx...thanks again you're the best

[lmagna]

Will these work for you jct?

It may be a little late now but I had to contact the guy and see if he still had them and wait for his reply. He just relisted them.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-25-1-24-SLIXX-LEW-ARRINGTON-STEVE-KANUIKA-BRUTUS-FUNNY-CAR-LABFC-1976-DECAL/352581700254?hash=item521781ca9e:g:qwsAAOSws99b-4Fv:rk:1:pf:1&frcectupt=true

 

Might save you the repaint job.

Edited January 30, 2019 by lmagna

[lmagna]

Here is a little more expensive option.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-65-GTO-AWB-1-25-Resin-Body-Brutus-Decals-from-Fremont-Racing-Specialties/323661786596?hash=item4b5bbeede4:g:wlcAAOSwOaBbS5k1:rk:1:pf:1&frcectupt=true

 

[jct]

Thanks a bunch Lou...they would have but I've already ordered the different set, and the expenses are climbing on this build already, wonder why I didn't get a hit on them when I searched ebay??? weird. Thanks to all you guys for the assists much appreciated.

 

  The new paint shouldn't be too horrible, its just all black, well with that said we all know how black can be...

Thanks again 

[popeye the sailor]

goth!       that's the biggest problem with decals.........unless they have been stored in a controlled environment,  the chances that they'd be any good is quite slim.   I keep all mine in sealed plastic bags and in my little cabinet.........in a drawer and kept out of the light.   unless there is a stamped production date on those aftermarket decals,  I would suspect them being the same condition.  I ordered decals from Revell for the Cutty Sark,  to replace the decals that were bad in the kit I got from E-Bay........but even those decals weren't any good!   they have an extremely fragile shelf life.   this also depends on the decals too......take the decals from my kit here.    these seem rather thick,  compared to decals from other brands of models,  I cut the end tab off the decals the other day and wet it.  it looked like an actual decal........likely could have been used for a plaque,  if the model was to be cased up........it slid off with no trouble.  so,  I feel good about them.......but I'm still going to use an air of caution,  just in case.   micro cracking is a major problem

[CDW]

Oh yeah, heat, sunlight, and humidity are major killers of decals. 

A couple of little tricks...

1. you can tape a "yellowed" decal sheet to your window for the day and the natural light will bleach it back to clear.

2. Future floor polish (now known as Pledge brand) airbrushed to cover an old decal sheet and allowed to dry will cure micro cracking. After the Future has been applied, you will of course need to cut each and every decal out with a pair of scissors. 

[lmagna]

Sorry I was a little late jct

 

I located the decals in the recently closed listings not in the open listings. They had not sold so I contacted the seller to see if they were still available and he relisted them again just for you, (Well just for him as well if you had bought them!) That was why you were unable to find them on an eBay search earlier.

 

I forgot how I found the resin body/decal version but it didn't come up in the normal search.

 

CDW is VERY right about using Future, or now days Pledge Floor Shine. I also use it over the entire car after applying the decals, or after the car is finished even if decals were not used. it is FANTASTIC stuff. There are only problems if some part of the body needs to be a flat of satin finish. It pretty much makes everything shiny, even the clear parts.

 

I never tried the sunshine treatment but when we get some five or six months from now I will be certain to give it a try! There are some advantages to living in Florida!

[jct]

Hi Lou no problem...I'm enjoying all the tips coming in

[jct]

OK here we go again......here's a pic of the new scheme...Keeling and Clayton California Charger, which is actually just the team name to my knowledge they never ran a Charger as in MOPAR...the team was primarily known for their top full entries but ran Funnys as well, a Pinto, Mustang and ended with a Firebird.  Decals are on the way so I got the body scuffed up for a new primer coat and repainted teh chassis in semi gloss black, had to do a little disassembly to accomplish that, but it should be fine nothing broke...

I'm guessing I need to rename the build as it is no longer the Brutus Mustang...thanks for all the likes and the suggestions, tips & tricks, offers to assist and general support...much appreciated 

[CDW]

Excellent choice of decals/scheme. I like the graphics on that car.

[jct]

Thx CD

[mtaylor]

Just like they did with the real ones then... change the paint, change the name... and run with it.

[Jack12477]

Have you tried using Microscale Micro Sol/Set solutions on those decals ?  I've had success using them to rescue old decals.

[jct]

2 minutes ago, Jack12477 said:

Have you tried using Microscale Micro Sol/Set solutions on those decals ?  I've had success using them to rescue old decals.

HI Jack, thanks for the suggestion...yep turned to the Micro products first thing...no joy, these are about 20 yrs old and I really didn't pay any attention to how they were stored 

[popeye the sailor]

that is a nice body scheme.........will watch this leopard change her spots  

[jct]

Still waiting for the new decals but fired up the airbrush to get the base coats shot...a light powder blue shade for the Mustang and a lime green metallic for the Vega (future build that needs completed as well).  The blue is 2 parts French Blue one Part white...the green is straight from the bottle, a Boyd Coddington color, which I've had sitting around for awhile

 

The Mustang has kinda come full circle, as I stated in the first post the original kit was the MPC Blue Max, which had a base of light blue, it got changed over to the orange when I decided to do the Brutus Mustang, ironically because of decal issues...

They now got to bake out for a couple days...waiting again

Edited February 4, 2019 by jct

[popeye the sailor]

that green {looks metallic} reminds me of the older MPC models....they used to mold them in metallic Green plastic.   I think that is the same blue I have on the duster.....but I didn't mix it.  I have like four bottles of light blue.  I think I'll use it up on the Progress when I'm ready to paint her  

 

wicked nice paint jobs on the both of them.....are you working on the Vega too?